The Good Life

Volunteer shares love story ended by drunken driver

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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoCourtney Hergesheimer | DISPATCHTalking to enrollees in Maryhaven Exploring Sober Alternatives, Dave Jones tells how his life was forever changed by a drunken driver.

Before a roomful of strangers, Dave Jones recalls how he wanted to marry the woman who became
his wife within minutes on their first date, how he sent her daily letters during trips apart.

He plays a recording of Judy’s cheerful voice; displays her painting of a scene from their
honeymoon; and shows photos of holidays, vacations and the graduations of their four children.

In other circumstances, the quiet computer programmer probably wouldn’t be the one sharing his
life story with a crowd. But, during his regular speaking engagements, he doesn’t get nervous.

The worst that could happen, he says, already did.

So Jones tells audiences about Aug. 7, 2008 — the day he had to inform his children that their
mother was dead. About how the State Highway Patrol trooper gave him the wedding ring that Judy had
worn for almost 29 years and the purse she had been carrying, covered with her blood.

As a volunteer speaker for driver-intervention programs, the Upper Arlington resident has found
purpose in the years since his wife was killed by a drunken and drugged driver.

It’s what Judy, who directed the children’s ministry at Meadow Park Church of God on the
Northwest Side, would have wanted.

“If I can do something and it can make a difference,” said Jones, 60, “I’d feel bad if I didn’t
do it.”

The president of a Toastmasters International chapter, Jones estimates that he reaches 1,500
people annually between his once- or twice-quarterly speeches for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and
twice-monthly commitment with Maryhaven Exploring Sober Alternatives.

Jones speaks to as many as 60 people in the Maryhaven program, which can be court-ordered.
Before he volunteered for the role in 2009, participants heard from drunken-driving victims only
through videos.

Jones’ visit, lecturer Sonja Mapp said, often proves more powerful than the rest of the 72-hour
program, with the speaker’s strength and courage often discussed afterward.

“Everybody’s in tears, and everybody’s sharing,” she said. “The program would be missing
something without him.”

During his presentation, Jones reflects on the morning of the crash: He looked up at the perfect
blue sky, he remembers, and felt lucky.

Later that day, Judy and their youngest daughter were driving on Rt. 42 in Union County,
returning home from a college visit in Indiana, when a Chevy Blazer crossed the center line and hit
their Honda Odyssey, head-on, at 55 mph.

In addition to a blood-alcohol level of 0.132 — in Ohio, 0.08 is the level at which a driver is
considered too impaired to drive — the driver had cocaine, Vicodin and Percocet in her system. In
prison serving an eight-year sentence, she sobered up for the first time in seven years.

Contacted by Jones, the driver contributed a letter that Mapp reads at the end of his talks:
Seek help before it’s too late. I will take this to my grave.

Jones simply adds that the past can’t be changed but that the future can be.

“A lot of beautiful things are going to happen in your lives,” he says.

Since the accident, Jones has welcomed two grandchildren to his family and, in 2011, married
widow Diane Koontz. This year, he’ll see his youngest daughter graduate from college and one of his
sons get married.

He visits Judy’s grave most days for a sense of perspective and hopes that, through his talks,
her ministry continues.

At the end of a recent speech, a man raised his hand.

“I think she’d be very proud of you,” he said, “for what you’re doing, teaching us.”